Run Billy Run

Another lesser known record was broken tonight.  Billy Hamilton, shortstop of the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Double-A club of the Cincinnati Reds), set the all-time professional league mark of stolen bases in a season, swiping four tonight to give him a total of 147 this season.  This broke the previous record of 145 set by speedster Vince Coleman in 1982 for the Macon Redbirds.  Not being a major league record (Rickey Henderson with 130 in 1982), this record will probably be forgotten by most.  However, I find it noteworthy given that a few months I mentioned here that stolen bases were on the decline.

Coleman stole 145 bases for the Macon Redbirds (Single-A) in only 113 games.  Hamilton on the other hand needed 120 games to reach and surpass the mark, but there are a couple things worth noting.  Hamilton's pace is not slowing (12 SB in his last 9 games).  I don't have split stats on Coleman, but I would be curious if Coleman was trailing off in his pace as the season wore.  More noteworthy is that Hamilton reached the total while splitting the season between Single and Double-A (about a 70/30 split so far), so the level of competition should have been a touch higher.  Remarkably, both of their success rates at stealing are very similar.  Coleman stole bases in 1982 at an 82.4% clip.  This year, Hamilton is stealing at an 81.7% clip.  A negligible difference when you again consider the different levels Hamilton has played at.

It isn't to say Hamilton is the better of the two, or that his record is more impressive.  It simply means it will be interesting to see how the 22-year old Hamilton fares compared to Coleman in the long run.  It is worth mentioning that in that 1982 season, Coleman hit .350, that's 86 points better than his Major League average, and 67 points higher than his Minor League average.  Billy Hamilton is hitting .318 this season compared to a .317 Minor League average, and an OBP of .417 compared to his .427 career percentage.  This would lead to the hypothesis that Hamilton could end up providing plenty of stolen bases to the Cincinnati Reds organization in the near future.